Three men beat a convicted child rapist to death and then one of the alleged attackers boasted "there's one more paedo off the street", a court has heard.
Geoffrey Reed, 57, was hit with an object like a hammer and then stamped and kicked on in his ground floor flat in Bournemouth, Dorset, by half brothers Stuart and Lee Wareham and Benjamin Walter, 22, the prosecution claimed on Tuesday.
Geoffrey Reed's body was found buried in woodland, Winchester Crown Court heard
Frail Mr Reed, who had allowed the men to stay or visit his flat, suffered "enormous injuries" with fractures to his head, ribs and sternum and a broken neck, Winchester Crown Court was told.
Tim Mousley QC, prosecuting, told the jury that Stuart Wareham had found some paperwork detailing that Reed had served 10 years for four counts of rape on two vulnerable victims - one of them a child - after the men had met in a bail hostel.
The prosecution allege that this was a motive in the murder and that the men wanted Reed's benefits as they thought he was about to receive £220 but when he died he only had £2.56.
"This, we say, as well as trying to steal whatever money Mr Reed had, was a motive for killing him - the fact he was a sexual offender," the barrister said.
The court heard that Stuart Wareham had attacked Reed in the weeks before he died and he said he would get his sister or somebody to say Reed had touched them up "so he could beat him up again".
Mr Mousley claimed that the men launched the fatal attack on 7 June last year and the trio put eight-stone Reed in a suitcase that the jury saw 26-year-old Stuart Wareham on CCTV carry one handed out of the flat.
Stuart Wareham then asked his sister to drive them to their grandmother's house in Lytchett Matravers - 13 miles away - and said there was a dead dog in the suitcase he wanted to bury there, the court heard.
Meanwhile Lee Wareham, 33, left the house with several bags. The prosecution allege he dumped Reed's clothes while the men buried him in a shallow grave.
Another man Danny Anderson was living in the flat and he called police three days later fearing the men had killed Reed as he had heard noises but he was prevented from leaving his bedroom, the jury was told.
Reed's blood was found in the bathroom and on Stuart Wareham's jogging bottoms. The flat had been cleaned by the men, the court heard.
All three were arrested and specialist dogs found Reed buried in woodland, the barrister explained.
When questioned Mr Mousley said all three lied.
Stuart Wareham said that Reed had gone to a friend's in Weymouth and that the suitcase was full of stolen property he later burned.
Benjamin Walter said the suitcase had a dead dog in it, but later he implicated the other two men saying that Stuart had instigated the attack and Lee had held a door closed so that Danny Anderson could not get out of his room.
Lee Wareham said he had not seen Reed at the flat.
The jury also heard from letters that Stuart Wareham had written to family where he admitted he hated paedos and that he had hit Reed but then the other men had joined in and kicked and stamped on him.
He said he wouldn't grass on the others but he hadn't killed Reed and that he would do time for burying the body.
In one letter to his mother he said: "There's one more paedo off the street so he can't prey on anymore little kids, which is a kinda good thing I'm not going to forget in a hurry."
The men, all from Bournemouth, deny murder.
The trial is expected to last four weeks.